In the transition from 3G to 4G, the idea of software upgradeability really took hold in the macro RAN. However, the proportion of the time and cost of a major upgrade that really could be moved from physical processes to code updates remained limited, and projects to upgrade or replace networks were still long, expensive and heavy on labor. In the transition to 5G, in which networks are inherently more software-based, the software upgrade is becoming a more meaningful term. Of course, antennas still have to be mounted on towers and fibers run for backhaul, but many of the 4G radios installed in recent years are 5G-ready, and even some physical processes are becoming more streamlined and automated, as operators…